Prime Minister Tony Abbott has dismissed criticism of a decision to axe an independent committee that provides advice on the health needs of asylum seekers as "a complete beat-up".

The Immigration Health Advisory Group (IHAG) was established in 2006 but all of the group's members except the current chair, Dr Paul Alexander, have now been sacked.

The ABC understands the Government is now planning to set up its own advisory panel headed by Dr Alexander, an Australian Defence Force medical expert who IHAG members say has little mental health experience.

Mr Abbott says the Government will still receive advice on the mental and physical welfare of asylum seekers.

"This is a complete beat-up by the ABC and some of the Fairfax papers," he said.

Opposition immigration spokesman Richard Marles says the abolition of the IHAG is an extraordinary move, coming so soon after a damning Amnesty report on the conditions at the Manus Island detention centre.

An asylum seeker with a sick newborn baby has won a temporary order blocking their deportation to Nauru, in what is seen as a test case for the Federal Government.

The family from Myanmar was transferred from Nauru to Brisbane last month, when the mother - a Rohingyan woman named Latifa - encountered complications with her pregnancy.

Queensland lawyer Murray Watt, who is representing the family pro bono, says it is a test case on whether the Government can send asylum seekers offshore without considering the impacts on their health.